You know that your social media engagement is a little bit, well… lacking, right now, don’t you?  And you really want to do something about it.

Preferably, something that doesn’t require a huge investment with a string of zeroes in it, and that won’t take the next half century before you start seeing results.

I totally get you! That’s why I’m putting together these great little tips that you can actually start working on. Right. Now.

Well, maybe after you finish reading them!

1. Tweet some awesome pics!

Want a fast, effective way to increase your retweet stats?

Better yet, use Twitter’s native image uploading system. Dan Zarrella took a closer look at this and found that Tweets using Twitter’s own system were 94% more likely to get retweeted!

You might think that 140 characters is too short for you – but if you can trim it down even more – then you’re going to see even better results.

Why? It makes perfect sense when you think about it. People are going to want to add their own comments and messages – you’ve got to leave room for them too, if you want them to retweet you!

2. Check the clock

This goes for all your social media platforms – Twitter, Facebook and the whole caboodle.

Figure out what times your audience are going to be most active. Is it during working hours? Is it that early morning easy start before the work day kicks off? Post work relaxation time?

Once you’ve got that, you need to target your posting during those hours. That’s when you’re going to get the maximum amount of engagement from people.

3. Don’t take the weekends off

Sure, you might not be kicking around the office on a lazy Sunday, but that doesn’t mean that your audience has switched off too.

That boost of free time means that weekends are actually a great time for increasing engagement – jumping up by up to 30%! Definitely an increase worth interrupting your weekend off for.

4. Use Hashtags

If you’ve been using social media for a while then this should come to you as naturally as breathing.

If not – then you need to step up your hashtag game, pronto! Hashtags are a great way of helping people find you – they directly increase your visibility to new audiences, and can even double your engagement levels.

Sweet!

But don’t go totally nuts. It’s not about making a hashtag-fest. Stick to 1-2 if you’re on Twitter – remember, people need space to add their own too!

5. Tell a visual story

So this kind of goes back to number 1. People love images.

They’re easy to understand and share a great message in an instant. So really maximise their potential!

One great way to do this is by creating a visual story – aka – a storyboard! This isn’t just for plotting movies and websites – you can use a storyboard to describe how products work, how they make people feel – in short, for telling your audience a story.

6. Play games

People love games.

It doesn’t matter what kind of game it is – there’s just something about the prospect of something fun that lures them in, no matter what else they might be doing.

So add a game to your Facebook page to get people interacting with it!

Another great spin on this is the classic giveaway. I mean – free stuff?! Who doesn’t want it?

Drive up engagement by getting people to share a message or add their details in order to take part. It’s one of the most effective ways to boost engagement.

7. Get social

Hey, social media is all about getting social – so don’t be shy, and dive in!

Building real relationships with other people and cross promoting posts from other influencers in your industry is a great way to get yourself on people’s radar – and put you in front of a wider audience.

8. Don’t hang around

Want a sure fire way to dampen your engagement?

Then leave off replying to that sweet little message that just popped in.

They can wait till tomorrow, right?

Wrong! People expect you to respond fast – usually, within the hour – so stay on top and get back to anyone who has gotten in touch with you.

9. Don’t go nuts

You might think that the more you post, the more likely someone, somewhere is to engage with you.

In fact – the opposite is more successful. Don’t go for total radio silence – people need to know you’re active, so staying consistently active is key.

But restrain yourself to a reasonable number of posts every day. Not only will this make sure you don’t bombard your followers with a trillion irrelevant messages (big switch off!) but it will also mean you’ve got the time to reply back to messages and really nurture your engagement.

10. Just ask!

Last tip – possibly the most obvious thing of all.

Ask your audience to share your tweet or post.

Simple as that! It’s surprising how many people think that asking your audience directly is somehow beneath them – but if you want to see results, then you’ve got to reach out.

And often, audiences are happy to oblige!

I hope you find these tips useful! Got any of your own up your sleeve? Drop a comment and tell us all about it!